#in-depth Comparison

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

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[hitwiththefandomz]

I MADE MY IDEA! Spitfire AU

So this has been rattling around in my head for a while. Essentially it’s and AU based on the idea of the RISE boys having Nepo dragons as a fun combo between the 2003 dragon forms and the mystic magic of the RISE universe

I tried to take inspiration from the 2003 designs but also alter them to fit the RISE turtles personalities and powers

I’m working on developing this idea more (things like names and how this would run in the RISE universe) but I’m so happy I actually got to draw them ( ´ ▽ ` )

[waitineedaname]

I've finally done what I inevitably do for nearly every fandom i get into: I've made a deranged spreadsheet tracking some linguistic element in a piece of media! this time it's tracking the usage of swears in Scum Villain. if you're curious, here's the full spreadsheet, but I'll write up my findings here

some notes on my methods!

I differentiated between internal and external use. external use is pretty straight forward, that's just dialogue said out loud. for internal use, that's when it's used in the narration. obviously, this is skewed towards Shen Qingqiu as our primary POV character, but occasionally the narration dips its toes into other characters' perspectives, so I kept that in mind and assigned the usage to whoever seemed most relevant in that snippet of narration. also, in the case of the transmigrators, I also counted speech directed at the System as internal because they're less likely to self-censor when talking to the System because no one else can hear them

this was done by searching for specific words and their variants in online copies of the official English translations of all four books. there are a bajillion different swears in the English language, but I tried to focus on the most common/most likely to be used. also, since I was searching for the words manually, there are going to be some that are missed because they're written out abnormally, like lengthening the word for emphasis (eg. fuuuuuuuuuck) or censoring it (eg. b- [BLEEP]). side note, i don't know why the hell SQQ ever censors anything since he seems pretty comfortable thinking some pretty foul things without censoring them, but whatever.

now for the results! data breakdown under the cut

in total, of the swears I searched for, there's 286 swears across all four books. book two is the most vulgar, with 82 swears, and book three is the least, with only 52. book two also has the most variety (14 different words) and book three has the least variety (only 10 different words)

perhaps unsurprisingly, out of these 286 swears, SQQ's internal narration is responsible for 200 of them. his most used swear is "fuck" which appears 106 times in total and 86 times from SQQ (internal) specifically

following SQQ (internal) in the rankings is Shang Qinghua (internal) at 30 in total. his most used swear is "fucking." after that is SQH's external dialogue (14 swears, most used is "fuck") and then SQQ's external dialogue (11 swears, tied between "fuck" and "fucking"). considering how much he swears in his head, I think SQQ is exhibiting a surprising amount of restraint when it comes to swearing out loud!

aside from the transmigrators, the most vulgar side character is, surprisingly, Shen Jiu! he gets two internal uses of "fuck" and two external swears ("shitty" and "damn"). these are all from when he was younger, so perhaps this is a habit he broke when he got older and had to present a particular image as peak lord

the only other side characters who swear are Sha Hualing (internal), Bingge (internal), Linguang-Jun (external), Qiu Jianluo (external), and Ming Fan. all of them only swear once except Ming Fan, who gets two (one internal and one external)

of the 18 swear words I tracked, SQQ used all of them except one. the only person to say "bitch" is Ming Fan, out loud. #MingFanMisogynyMoments

SQQ does, however, have a monopoly on motherfuck/motherfucker/motherfucking, goddammit, dumbass, dick, and pussy. damn dude, you kiss your disciple with that mouth?

pre-transmigration, Shen Yuan swore three times in one forum post, those being "fucking," "damn," and "ass."

most usages of "ass" are for emphatic purposes, like "Relax, my ass!" Both SQQ and SQH really enjoy this construction lol

despite volume two being the most vulgar, it has the least variety of speakers! SQQ is responsible for all but two of those swears, the other two belonging to Sha Hualing and Ming Fan. volume four has the most variety, likely because it just involves a wide variety of characters

and that's my data roundup! go forth and use this as a resource when choosing how to insert swearing into your SVSSS dialogue <3

[divorceblogger]

I also didn’t mention this but to me, Chani As The Voice Of The Oppressed Fremen Resistance That Deserved To Liberate Itself & Chani As The Planet’s Suffering Ecology Under Imperial Rule Personified is far more compelling than the sweet, suffering, non-opinionated fremen bride that we get in the books.

[ranuunculus]

I translated my essay on the converging themes of Kafka's Metamorphosis and Dir en Grey's The Blossoming Beelzebub into English if anyone wants to give it a read :]

you dont have to download the pdf, you should be able to read it on the site no problem!

[tagarilaghost]

Any thoughts to Dusknoir getting "advice" from Darkrai in the future (while hunting Grovyle & Hero)?

[danadiadea]

remind me how tf the fanbase of a man who stands among the most complicated and fleshed out characters in the YA literature have this beef with a sketch of a guy whose whole purpose is to be a bully to give his main victim a lifelong trauma, have one productive sexual encounter, and die?

James exists as a part of Snape's, Harry's, and Sirius' backstory to give reasons to their behaviours (and Harry's existence). In the two and a half scenes he has in the books (SWM, Voldemort killing Potters, train encounter; everything else is Harry's projection or just stories), he is not spectacular to say the least.

Severus was antigonised/hated by characters who actually had importance for the story and existing personality traits except for being a spoilt prick. How did we stoop so low?

[calypsolemon]

its actually really funny the character arc me and garmadon have gone on together... from thinking he kinda sucks to thinking he was a really good father to thinking he kinda sucks again but in a more nuanced way. #progress

[writesailingdreams]

Never been able to see the parallels between Usopp leaving the crew and Sanji leaving. I suppose they both fight Luffy but the reason and context is completely different. As far as I recall, Usopp is the only one who ever leaves by questioning Luffy's authority and saying he had been thinking about it for awhile e.g. that he couldn't keep up with the others (Luffy).

Yes I know there's more complexity to it than that, but he is explicit about the fact that he wants to leave. In comparison, when Robin leaves its "I have a darkness chasing me you can't understand so we must part ways"; with Nami its "we spent time together but it was never for the long haul"; with Sanji its first "gotta go deal with something, don't worry" and then its "you're beneath me, I'm a prince". In none of those statements do any of them expressively say "I want to leave and I will fight you over this issue that you are making a bad decision over"*

There's variety over how to understand what they each mean (with Robin it's figuring out where she stands; with Nami its just sticking around; with Sanji its forcing him to admit how he really feels). None of which would have worked with Usopp -- it seemed clear as to where he stood, sticking around for him was counter to what he was saying, and if Luffy had pressured Usopp to say how he really felt (if what he was saying wasn't what he meant) then Luffy would have dismissed Usopp's conviction to challenge him in a fight.

I could maybe see an argument that the situation with Usopp gave Luffy more insight when Sanji left, but on the other hand, it has more in common with Robin and Nami than Usopp -- someone vanishes without explanation and tries to drive the others away. That's not at all how Usopp left.

*which Luffy is ultimately right about

[banished-away]

can i say im actually kinda liking catti-brie's change? i always liked her but sometimes it felt like her role as the "moral compass" of the party stifled her as a character, esp since she was treated as such a tolerant person just for suggesting to talk to goblins before killing them anyway but now seeing her, fundamentally the same when it comes to a sweet and upbeat personality, following a goddess that so far has gone unchallenged as good, and yet because of this goddess she is able to bend over backwards to justify absolutely nasty worldviews. its just a much more interesting (and realistic!) angle for her to go from just vaguely "kind and good" to "kind and good on the surface level"

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Scams, Fakes, Performance, & Belief

Peaceful Property: On Sale, ep. 4

This week's episode was filled with fakes: online order scams, magicians, compromised democratic processes, and a fake ghost. What reasons do we have to believe in anything? Everything is just an attempt to pull the wool over our eyes while the rugs get pulled out from under us so others can make a quick buck and protect their own hide. Who wants to be fooled by all the shams?

Pangpang does. Jan Ployshompoo has been fantastic in this role, and she got to devour this episode. Jan specializes in a 'camp' performance style that's easy to undervalue. 'Camp' acting involves overacting the characters and emotions, and lesser actors often approach it with self-awareness and cynicism. Jan understands my favorite note on camp that Susan Sontag wrote.

“56. Camp taste is a kind of love, love for human nature. It relishes, rather than judges, the little triumphs and awkward intensities of “character.” . . . Camp taste identifies with what it is enjoying. People who share this sensibility are not laughing at the thing they label as “a camp,” they’re enjoying it. Camp is a tender feeling.”

The tender affection in Jan's 'camp' hits the themes of this episode home (no pun intended) because she infuses compassion for her over-the-top characters. They get to have range and reasons for their shallowness.

Pangpang's manic overperformance as a social-media influencer has been all about naively buying into every gimmick for herself and from others. Home, probably from his own similarities, points out to Peach how she's doing this as a form of compensation. All along she needed to believe in something because she needed to believe in her brother, to believe when no one else would in his debilitating fear and grief. She didn't need evidence to believe he saw ghosts as he said. She needed to believe she could be there for him even if she didn't know how. Pangpang chooses enchantment because staying true to her brother and her own feelings of loss over their parents are more important than being the winner of some existential argument.

The problem of deception lies at the heart of performance, and I often have a sense that performers and production crews invest a little more when they have to address it (Foei Patara who played Chobkol GAVE!). They have to prove that there is value and truth in the make-believe and assisting people in doing it. For a while, they need their audience to return to the magic of childhood so that they'll clap to show they believe in fairies when Tinkerbell's light begins to fade.

I loved how Peaceful Property symbolized this return to innocence as an egg, a kind of spiritual rebirth. If we want to believe in the magic of fantasy (Kan), the potential in ourselves (Peach), and the value of others (Home), we have to let go of our guarded cynicism. It won't eliminate the harsher truths of reality. They'll arrive one way or another. But we don't need to be the person who crushes our own dreams or who crush others' dreams just because we're scared of being vulnerable. We need to be people like Pangpang who want to believe and help others on their journey to believing good things are possible.

[shizuu-chann]

To me, Rook and Lucanis have Shepard and Garrus vibes. No matter if you romance Lucanis or not, the love, trust, and comradery between them mirrors Shakarian (platonic or otherwise). Seriously, the way Rook saves him in Inner Demons, being the one who unlocks everything? Even Neve, who Lucanis is crushing on if you don't romance him, is one of the locks--but Rook isn't. Pulling his ass out of danger in the Ossuary and dragging him into a suicide mission a la ME2, but he's down for the ride bc he owes Rook (and the contract Caterina made, yeah, yeah, but he explicitly mentions owing Rook). The way Rook yells his name after Ghilan'nain "kills" him, whether he's romanced or not??? The way Rook runs to his side to check for signs of life immediately after?? Tell me those aren't Shepard/Garrus parallels!

True, we don't have three games of them building that relationship, but bet, if we did? Well.

There's no Rook without Lucanis.

[killugon-truther]

okay but i absolutely love the scene in ep. 116 of killua coming to the conclusion that pitou is both healing & protecting komugi while attempting to battle his natural instincts regarding that realization.

to me, it’s more than just killua displaying his usual intelligent, accurate, & logical thinking, but it also touches on the parallels & similarities between him & pitou, like their growing empathy, intense determination, & their absolute devotion & loyalty to their “king”.

and aside from that, they also have very literal or more obvious parallels, such as the fact that they both have very pale skin, white hair, are very cat-like (w pitou being a literal cat creature & killua having several & intentional cat-like traits), and are visually paralleled to each other multiple times throughout the anime (ex: ep. 116 after gon shouts “WHY?? WHYYYYYYYY??” and we get shots of pitou & killua looking at him w a rather apprehensive expression, ep. 131 when pitou is aiming for gon’s head and killua aims to push him out the way, and more!!).

[fantasy-girl974]

Spoilers for Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit

So, I just completed part 1 of AAI2-5 (and good lord, it took me 3 hours, I didn't think it would take this long!). And during the Mind Chess with Eustace / Sebastian (protecc this poor boy omg 😭), I came across this conversation between Miles and him, and the little difference with how he calls Phoenix is interesting between french and english.

Little side notes : English name = French name Miles Edgeworth = Benjamin Hunter Eustace Winner / Sebastian Debeste = Eustache Victor

[French translation]

Hunter : Vous savez… parler de tout cela avec vous, cela m'aide aussi. Pendant un temps, je ne voulais pas faire face non plus à certaines vérités. Mais quelqu'un qui m'est cher m'a montré que je faisais erreur.

You know... Talking about all this with you, it helps me too. For a while, I didn't want to face certain truths either. But someone dear to me showed me I was mistaken.

Eustache : C'est… une belle histoire… *sniff* mais… je n'ai… personne pour m'aider… *sanglot*

It's... a beautiful story... *sniff* but... I have... no one to help me... *sob*

***** [Official English translation]

Edgeworth : Listen -- talking with you like this. It's helpful for me, too. There was a time where there were thruths I didn't want to face up to, either. But a good friend taught me the error of my ways.

Eustace : That's… nice… But I don't have… anybody like that… *sob*

*****

If (as I think) it's about Phoenix here, well this is not the first time in the french version where he talks about him so highly compare to the english version sometimes. There was another moment (during AAI2-2 iirc) where he calls him "a renowned / illustrious defense attorney" in french. HMMMM (≖_≖ )

[fisheito]

yakuya in MY swamp? in MY ecosystem? no . i am still in disbelief. i hope you all know that my particles are bouncing off the everything. i am using periods as punctuation but the state of my mind is naught neareth final.

[saberdramon]

also im realizing that my idea to write my fic prompt kazumaji from kiryu's POV makes this harder actually because i. can't fucking convey majima's line of logic to the reader At All because kiryu doesn't read people in a way that allows for it and tends to take majima at face value for that matter. maybe i need to lean more on the humorous angle and fuck it and ball. and lock in on kiryu in this whole situation like i was supposed to